UGANDA

61. Karimojong/NRA raids (1989 - present)
NORTHERN CONFLICTS
Prior to 1979, the Karimojong used spears only during their cattle raids. However, after
the 1979 raid of the Moroto Armoury, during which they acquired guns, some Karimojong
engaged in violent cattle raids in Karamoja and the neighbouring communities. In 1986,
when armed conflicts in the Acholi region reached a peak, the Karimojong raiders took
advantage of the unrest and entered the region to raid cattle. According to participants, cattle
were not only taken by the Karimojong raiders but also by the National Resistance Army. 318
In Soroti, the participants accused the NRA of allying with the Karimojong to raid cattle
instead of protecting the civilian population and their properties from cattle raids.
Various disarmament programs initiated by the government have significantly contributed
to a decline in raids, but the enmities created by the raids (and subsequent disarmament
campaigns) have never been resolved. Besides raiding cattle, the Karimojong have
committed atrocities in neighbouring Acholi, Teso, Langi, and Bagishu communities.
Participants in neighbouring districts felt that a comprehensive stocktaking exercise
in the affected communities was necessary to open a way forward for acceptable
reconciliation between the Karimojong and their neighbours.
62. The ‘Trinity
Wars’ (1986 –
present)
Participants noted that
in 1945 a spirit called
‘Lakwena’ possessed a
man named Severino
Lukoya. In 1982,
nearly forty years
later, the man began
doing whatever he
believed the spirit was
instructing him to do. 319
The spirit subsequently
also possessed his
daughter Alice Auma,
who claimed to be able
to heal people using
water. Tito Okello Lutwa
is believed to have first
consulted Alice’s spirit
in 1982, and it is also
believed that in 1986
Okello disregarded the
spirit’s instructions
318 Research conducted in Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Soroti and Bulambuli Districts
319 Research conducted in Pader District
145